


Reasons I Can't Stay, The

by orphan_account



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Drama, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-05-19
Updated: 2001-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-15 18:59:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14796149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Once she had recovered from her shock, CJ wordlesslysat down at the table.





	Reasons I Can't Stay, The

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

Disclaimers: The West Wing and it's characters are the  
property of Aaron Sorkin, Warner Brothers and NBC. No  
copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being  
made from this. The song "Angry All the Time" is the  
property of Tim McGraw and his record label. No  
copyright infringement is intended there either. 

Rating: PG

Author's Notes: This is third in a series and follows  
"Toast to the Future but That'd Be a Lie" and "A  
Blessing and Curse that Love is Blind." Thanks yet  
again to Lin and Kat for beta reading this. I have  
been told this part is bittersweet, so you may want  
some tissue while reading this. Or you may not. I  
don't know.

****

****

The Reasons I Can't Stay 

 

The reasons I can't stay  
Don't have a thing to do  
With being in love

She was exhausted when she got to work the next  
morning. She went into her office and closed the door,  
trying to hide from everyone. She couldn't get the  
conversation that she and Danny had the night before  
out of her mind. Little bits and pieces of it came  
back to her from time to time. 

*************************************************************** 

Once she had recovered from her shock, CJ wordlessly  
sat down at the table. She looked at Danny for a  
moment but didn't say a word. 

"I'm assuming that you had a case of cold feet just  
before the wedding." Danny said. 

"That's one explanation." CJ replied softly, not  
looking at him. 

"You may look up. I'm not going to get angry." 

She looked up. "Okay." 

"I accidentally clicked on this. I don't want you to  
think it's deliberate." 

"I don't." 

"Okay." He sighed. 

"I don't know what to say." 

"I know what you mean." 

"I never intended for you to see that, or to find  
this out." 

"CJ..." 

"Yeah?" 

"How do you feel now?" 

"Are you sure you want to know this?" 

"Yeah." 

CJ swallowed. "I wasn't..." She then amended what she  
was saying. "I'm not unhappy." 

"I know that. I like to think I would know if you  
were unhappy." 

************************************************************** 

Her reverie was stopped when she realized she wasn't  
the only one in her office. She looked up immediately.

"How long have you been there?" She asked, a little  
afraid to know the answer. 

"Long enough to you know are lost in thought, Claudia  
Jean." Josh replied. 

"Yeah." 

"What's wrong?" 

"What makes you think something is wrong?" 

"I said your name for five minutes before you  
realized I was here." 

"Josh!" 

"I did." 

"Okay." 

"Do you want to talk about it?" 

"Talk about what?" 

"The thing that is bothering you." 

"Nothing is bothering me." 

"If you say so." 

"What did you need?" 

"What?" 

"Why did you come in here?" 

"To aggravate you." 

"Well your mission was a success." 

"Yeah, are you sure you don't want to talk." 

"Yeah." 

"Okay." Josh turned and left. 

CJ sighed and sat back down at her desk. She tried to  
turn her attention to work, and away from the events  
of the previous night.

God it hurts me to think of you  
Before the light in your eyes was gone

CJ was working quietly in her office at lunch time.  
She had already told Carol she didn't want anything  
for lunch, so she was surprised when there was a knock  
on her door. 

"Yeah." She said without looking up. 

"Lunch." Danny said holding up a brown paper bag. 

She was a little shocked to see him. "Umm...okay." 

He walked in and closed the door. "We usually have  
lunch together on Wednesdays remember." 

"Yeah I guess I had forgotten." 

"It's understandable." 

"Yeah." 

"I've been thinking." 

"Okay?" 

"There's only one thing I can see to do in this  
situation." Danny said. 

"And what is that?" 

"I have to let you go..." 

"Danny...." 

"No, listen to me." 

"Okay." 

"I know that you do care about me. I don't believe  
you are that callous. You wrote that you wished Toby  
had been the one to give you the ring..." 

"Danny, I..." 

"You wouldn't have written it if it weren't true. So  
I have to let you go. So you'll be happier than you  
are now." 

CJ was silent. She didn't know what to say, or if she  
should say anything. 

"Talk to him. Tell him what is going on." 

"Yeah." She said, quietly. 

"Work your way back to him and be happy." Danny said  
as he got up. 

"And you?" CJ asked, softly. 

He smiled, a little sadly. "I'll be fine. Don't worry  
about me." 

"I never meant to hurt you." 

"I know that." He sighed. 

"It doesn't make it any easier though." 

"No, it doesn't." He turned to leave. "CJ..." 

"Talk to Toby, please. Let me know that you are  
happy." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Later that night, she found herself standing outside  
of Toby's office. She took a deep breath and went  
inside. 

"Hey." Toby said. 

"Hi." She replied. "Care if I sit down and talk for  
awhile?" 

"No, go ahead." 

Wordlessly, she shut the door behind her, and then  
sat down on the couch.

  


The end. 

  


End file.
